Mickey Levy

Levy was born in Jerusalem and was the eldest of five children. He grew up with his parents and four siblings in a single room; the kitchen was outside, and the family shared a bathroom and shower. His mother worked in other people’s homes, while his father, an Irgun member who spent time in prison, later worked as a storeroom manager at a Jerusalem ORT school.[8] Levy’s father had difficulty finding regular work because Irgun members were excluded from the Histadrut Labor Union, while his mother had smuggled grenades for the resistance.[3]

Two of Levy’s brothers died in 1990, five months apart: Ronen in a traffic accident and Pini during a terrorist infiltration of an IDF post in the Jordan Valley.[8]

Levy recalled that, as a child, he visited the construction site that would later become the Knesset. A guard dog tore his trousers, and his mother scolded him because the family could not afford another pair.[3][8] He married Nurit in 1975; they have four children and eight grandchildren.[8]

A Jewish Review of Books article later recounted that a Kurdish restaurant owner in Berlin admired Levy because they came from the same area of Kurdistan, though it did not identify the area or give further details about Levy’s family background.[9]

Before joining the Israel Police, Levy served six years as a paratrooper. His police career included command of the Jerusalem Police Station and service in the police district for the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria.[1] Sources differ slightly on the dates of his tenure as Jerusalem District commander: one profile gives 2000–2003, while another gives 2000–2004. Both place his command during the Second Intifada.[10][2]

Levy described the four years after his arrival in the Jerusalem District in 2000 as exceptionally intense. In an interview, he gave retrospective figures of 52 suicide bombers, of whom he said 12 were captured and 40 detonated themselves; he also cited more than 250 people killed, 1,500 wounded, and ten car bombs, half of which he said were neutralized.[8] These were figures from Levy’s account as reported in the interview.

He recalled being responsible for residents’ security, sometimes stopping public transportation and often sleeping at his office or in his jeep so he could respond quickly. He described continuous shooting at Gilo for a year and a half and said he addressed residents over loudspeakers when gunfire began.[8] In 2016, he spoke about his experiences commanding the Jerusalem District Police at an event titled “Between Security and Terrorism,” which included a screening of Erez Tadmor’s film Wounded Land.[11]

During a terrorist attack on Jaffa Street in Jerusalem, Levy suffered a heart attack while at the scene. He said he first gave instructions for rescuing and evacuating the wounded and handling the dead, then spoke to the media to reassure the public before asking to be taken to hospital. In a separate interview account, he said he continued directing the evacuation of wounded people after suffering a heart attack during a Palestinian terrorist attack and reached hospital 34 minutes later.[1][2]

In 2000, after a police station near Lions’ Gate was set ablaze during a violent demonstration, a television reporter asked Levy why police had not prevented the attack. Levy replied that prevention was possible but asked what it would cost, saying that an order to stop the demonstration would have carried a heavy price.[12] The account situates his response amid the political and security costs of policing demonstrations at the Temple Mount.

In a warning published on January 11, 2013, former Jerusalem District commander Levy argued against changing the Temple Mount status quo. He said the situation should be maintained as it was and cautioned that attempts to alter it could lead to destruction, casualties, and loss of life. He also warned: “If we are not exceedingly cautious, World War III will start here.”[7] These statements were his assessment of possible consequences, made in the context of the site’s religious and security sensitivities.

After the Mughrabi Ascent collapsed on February 14, 2004, Levy ordered an alternative temporary wooden bridge to restore access to the Mughrabi Gate. A Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs article says he called it a “security structure” and that the East Jerusalem Development Company built it quickly. The article describes the gate as the only entrance for non-Muslim visitors and a route for Israeli security forces in emergencies.[13] The bridge and access arrangements form part of wider disputes over access, security, and the status of the Temple Mount.

After his Jerusalem command, Levy was one of four finalists considered for Israel Police commissioner. When Moshe Karadi was selected, Levy accepted an offer to serve as the police representative in Washington, D.C. After retiring from the police, he became chairman of Egged Ta’avura; he entered politics in 2013 after accepting Yair Lapid’s invitation to join Yesh Atid.[1] Levy said he returned from his Washington posting when his daughter reached military-service age because he did not want her to serve as a lone soldier.[2]

Levy entered the 19th Knesset in 2013 at number 11 on Yesh Atid’s list, which won 19 seats. He served as deputy finance minister in the 33rd government, sworn in on March 18, 2013, with Lapid as finance minister.[14][15] In that role, Levy oversaw the Israel Tax Authority and worked on unreported capital and money laundering. He later said he promoted a change to the system of grants for released IDF soldiers so that eligible money would be paid automatically after three years rather than restricted to specified uses; he cited 50 million shekels in unclaimed grants.[2]

Levy was again listed at number 11 on Yesh Atid’s slate for the 2015 election. He later appeared at number 22 on the Kahol Lavan list in both the April and September 2019 elections.[16][17] After the 2015 election, he served on the Finance Committee, the House Committee, and the Committee on the War Against Drugs and Alcohol, and headed five parliamentary caucuses. During the 23rd Knesset, he served on the Finance Committee and the Coronavirus Committee; Lapid removed him from the latter after Levy visited his son on the eve of Sukkot during a lockdown.[1]

In 2021, Levy ran on Yesh Atid’s list at number eight, and the party won 17 seats.[18] On June 13, he was elected Speaker of the 24th Knesset with 67 votes, against 52 for Shas lawmaker Yaakov Margi, and presided over the confidence vote for the Bennett–Lapid government.[4] His term ended in December 2022, when Yariv Levin was elected to replace him.[5] Levy was again number eight on Yesh Atid’s list for the 2022 election.[19]

As deputy finance minister, Levy also worked to expand tax collection. A profile reported that the Tax Authority collected four billion shekels more than forecast for the 2014 tax year, attributing the result to policies he promoted.[1] In 2018, he promoted legislation requiring an annual report on payments by the Palestinian Authority to terrorists and their families and providing for the freezing of one-twelfth of the reported amount from funds transferred to the Authority. The cabinet could transfer the frozen funds only if it determined that the payments had stopped.[1]

On August 31, 2026, Levy said he would not appear on Yesh Atid’s list for the next Knesset election and had agreed to head the party’s internal court. He said he would remain with Yesh Atid and continue working for the party during the campaign.[20]

As Knesset speaker, Levy said his principal aim was to change what he considered increasingly virulent political discourse. During a stormy debate, he expelled a dozen Likud lawmakers and hosted six meetings between coalition and opposition representatives over committee composition. Following his intervention, opposition lawmakers were to chair four committees rather than the usual two, although disputes over the Finance Committee and an opposition boycott continued.[3]

Levy described the Knesset as representing both Israel and the Jewish world, and argued that it should include the full range of Jewish religious streams. He called for implementation of the Western Wall agreement reached in January 2016, saying that Jews around the world should see Israel as their national home. He also expressed support for respecting Supreme Court decisions and for greater separation of powers.[3] During a visit to the Herzl Institute for the Knesset’s 37th anniversary, he entered Theodor Herzl’s original study and said Israel had a “deep commitment” to mend divisions among its people and realize Herzl’s vision of a state guided by the value, “Man, you are my brother.”[21]

In January 2022, Levy became the first Knesset speaker to address the full German parliament. Speaking in Hebrew for International Holocaust Remembrance Day, he recited part of the Kaddish and read from a prayer book used by a teenager at a bar mitzvah on October 22, 1938, shortly before Kristallnacht. He spoke emotionally about the life the teenager “was meant to live” before it was shattered.[6] In March of that year, a U.S. State Department release identified him as Knesset speaker at a meeting with Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman.[22]

In June 2022, Levy became the first Knesset speaker to participate in Jerusalem’s Pride Parade. He said that, as Jerusalem District Police commander, he had approved the parade for the first time about 20 years earlier, and called his participation a “moving closing of a circle.” He denounced threats and incitement against the LGBTQ community and said its members were equal citizens entitled to full equality of rights.[23]

Levy drew criticism in 2013 after calling the Haredi public “parasites” in a radio interview. He apologized for the term from the Knesset podium while maintaining that citizens with equal rights should also share obligations, including paying taxes and serving the state.[1] A separate dispute followed a government-expenditure report that listed a portable refrigerator and installation for his official car at about 3,500 shekels; Levy ultimately paid for it himself.[1]

His policing of demonstrations and his public warnings about the Temple Mount status quo concern a site with significant religious and security sensitivities. Accounts of these episodes record his stated reasoning and judgments rather than establishing the predicted consequences as fact.[12][7]